ASE Group has conducted a test-run of all four of the main circulating pumps of the first unit of the Belarusian nuclear power plant as part of preparations for hydraulic testing of the systems and equipment of its primary and secondary circuits.

The batch of fuel assemblies made by Novosibirsk Chemical Concentrates Plant for the initial fuel loading of unit 2 of the nuclear power plant under construction in Belarus has passed its final inspection. NCCP is a subsidiary of Russian fuel manufacturer TVEL.

Unit 1 of the first nuclear power plant to be built in Belarus has started the commissioning phase, AtomStroyExport, the engineering subsidiary of Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom, has announced.

Unit 1 of the nuclear power plant under construction at Ostrovets in Belarus has been connected to its own source of power supply, Rosatom has announced. Concreting the reactor dome of unit 2 has also been completed, it added.

An International Atomic Energy Agency team of experts today concluded a ten-day mission to review Belarus's preparedness and response arrangements for nuclear and radiological emergencies.

Belarus and Kazakhstan yesterday signed a memorandum of cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, the Belarusian Energy Ministry has announced. The document was signed by Belarusian Deputy Energy Minister Mikhail Mikhadyuk and Kazakh Deputy Energy Minister Bakytzhan Dzhaksaliev.

All four steam generators have been installed at unit 2 of the nuclear power plant under construction in Ostrovets in Belarus, the plant owner, Belarus NPP, announced today. The large items of equipment have been placed in their designated positions inside the reactor building, it said.

ASE, the engineering subsidiary of Russia's Rosatom, has installed the containment building dome for unit 2 of the nuclear power plant under construction near Ostrovets, in the Grodno region of Belarus. The unit - one of two VVER-1200 type reactors at the plant which will give 2340 MWe net capacity online - is scheduled for start-up in 2020.

Russia's AEM-Technology has started shipment of a set of four PGV-1000 steam generators to the site of unit 2 of the nuclear power plant under construction in Ostrovets, Belarus. Based in Volgodonsk, Russia, AEM-Technology is part of Atomenergomash, itself a subsidiary of Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom.

Belarus and Russia have agreed to the delivery of the reactor pressure vessel originally built for the Baltic NPP - under construction in the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad - to unit 2 of the nuclear power plant under construction in Ostrovets, in the Grodno region of Belarus, Rosatom has confirmed to World Nuclear News. The schedule for commissioning the Ostrovets 2 is uaffected and remains 2020.

Atomstroyexport announced today it has installed the reactor pressure vessel of unit 1 of the nuclear power plant under construction at Ostrovets in Belarus. The RPV, which weighs more than 330 tonnes, is 11 meters long and 4.5 m in diameter, was placed in position at 8.30pm on 1 April.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has concluded a five-day Site and External Events Design mission to Belarus, which is building its first nuclear power reactors. The two Russian-designed 1170 MWe VVER units are scheduled to begin operations by 2020.